MailHelper -- A Service Provider for NeXT Mail.app.
[Requires OS Release 2.0 or later]
by Izumi Ohzawa, and Manuel Alberto Ricart.
V1.1 [9-22-1991]-- New features:
1. Preferences panel has been added and user preferences are
stored in the default database [added by MAR].
2. Insertion of RTF signature is now supported for NeXT mail as a
separate services menu item [added by IO].
V1.2 [10-9-91] -- Mitsuhiro Kishimoto added support Japanese text in the reformat function
(NOTE - As of this version the . signature and .signature.rtfd keyboard equivalents were modified to ' and " respectively to avoid conflict with other services)
V1.3 [9-10-93] -- Mike O'Neill (emo@mitre.org) added support for RTFD signatures (and a colorized icon)
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This application has been written to correct deficiencies with the current NeXT Mail application, especially in the non-NeXT mail mode. MailHelper corrects these problems and provides some additional enhancements via the "Services" menu of the Mail application.
It adds the following four features:
[1] Text Reformatting
It reformats pasted/forwarded text in a send window so that the text fits into about 60 column width. Without reformatting, pasted-in text often appears ugly with alternating long and short lines due to inflexible line wrapping in the non-NeXT mail mode. Paragraph boundaries defined by two consecutive newline characters will be preserved.
To use this service, first paste in text into a send window, select the text you want to reformat, and press "Services"---"Mail"---"Reformat Selection" (or Command-] ).
Column width for wrapping may be changed via the Preferences panel, although values greater than 60 will not work well in non-NeXT mail. As of Version 1.2 MailHelper reformats Japanese text.
[2] Quoting Text by Prefixed String.
It adds "> " to the left of each text line of pasted text to indicate that it is quoted text.
To use this service, select the text you want to indicate with the quotation marks, then press "Services"---"Mail"---"Quote Selection" (or Command-> ).
You probably should reformat the text with "Reformat Selection" first before adding the quotation marks. This prefix string for quoting may be changed via the Preferences panel.
[3] Quoting RTF Text by Graying String.
To use this service, select the text you want to gray, then press "Services"---"Mail"---"Gray Selection" (or Command-< ).
[4] Signature Insertion
It inserts the content of your signature file (default is " ~/.signature" ) at the current cursor position. Path to the signature file may be changed via the Preferences panel.
To insert your signature, press "Services"---"Mail"---"Insert Signature" (or Command-' ).
When you prepare the ASCII signature file, make sure that all lines are shorter than 60 chars. Otherwise, the inserted signature text may be wrapped at undesirable locations.
In NeXT Mail mode, your signature in RTF (Rich Text Format) or (as of Version 1.3) RTFD (default filenames are " ~/.signature.rtf and ~/.signature.rtfd") may be inserted. Paths to these files may also be changed via the Preferences panel.
To insert your RTF signature, press "Services"---"Mail"---"Insert RTF Signature" (or Command-" ).
To insert your RTFD signature, press "Services"---"Mail"---"Insert RTFD Signature" (or Command-! ).
Installation
Copy MailHelper.app to ~/Apps, or /LocalApps. You will have to be 'root' to copy it to /LocalApps. Logout, and log back in to see the new services appear in the Services menu of NeXT's Mail application. If you are using the old version of MailHelper, it may be necessary to delete files ".applist" and ".cache" in directory ~/.NeXT/services before logout and logging back in. This step makes sure that new services item is listed in the menu.
This program, being a service provider, actually works with many other programs including Edit, NewsGrazer, etc. Command key equivalents may not work in the way explained here due to conflicting key assignments in these applications.
You may resolve key conflicts by changing the key assignments of any program by using the following dwrite:
dwrite AppName NXCommandKeys MenuItemName1,char1[, MenuItemName2,char2[...]]
where AppName is the name of the application whose command key assignments are to be over-ridden and MenuItemName is the name of the menu item to be assigned a new key equivalent. (for further information see NeXTAnswers - preferences.769)
Notes and Copying Policy
Original version by Izumi Ohzawa
Preferences panel has been added by Manuel Alberto Ricart.
Japanese text reformatting by Mitsuhiro Kishimoto.
RTFD signature, RTF quoting and Icon colorization by E.Michael O'Neill.
You are free to copy/modify/distribute this program as long as you do not remove the copyright notice in the info panel. Nothing prevents you from adding yours in there. Comments, bug reports or fixes, added features are welcome to the address below.
E. Michael O'Neill
emo@mitre.org (NeXTmail)
(NOTE - I undertook this update as an exercise in learning to write a Service. I do not intend to undertake further enhancements. If anyone wishes to continue this work please feel free! -emo)
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.